Amira

It was strange the way that time seemed to just slip on by without notice. It wasnt even a matter of time flying by when your having fun. It just does that in general, and it seemed to Amira that the onlder she got the faster in went by, and the less fulfilled she felt. Amira knew that she wasnt a bad person, she just needed to make a U turn. She wasnt headed anywhere at the moment, good or bad, and she needed to change that. It had to be better to crash and burn trying to improve herself than to continue on on this static never changing path. She was stuck here in this 'game' and there was only one thing she could truly improve about herself and that was her mind. She was scared. Scared to take risks of any sort. She let out a wry smile, leaning up against the wall of the first floor settlement. She wasnt scared of these NPC enemies, she was scared of getting close to people and screwing everything up. Or even worse having them screw it all up. Shed trusted and been hurt too much to even want to attempt to continue on and put herself in that vulnerable position again. But she knew that it had to happen, and that there was no way around that.

The sun blazed brightly overhead, seeming to burn right through her as she contemplated her life. No friends, no inner fire, and no direction. It was time to find that direction, if only for this stupid game she was stuck in. "Trust your enemies, because they have something to prove." She muttered to herself. Shed always found that parable to be more of a cool saying than something that she could actually implement into her life. She found the opposite to be just as true. You cant trust your friends because they no longer have anything to prove to you. Friendship was a vulnerable state and one that she didnt plan to immerse herself in. 

Amira had once again zoned out. Socialization wasn't really her strong suit and although she was extremely friendly and sociable she found that it took a lot of energy out of her. She listened to Reinka talk about treasure hunting and doing dungeons. "When you say it like that it certainly sounds very exciting and fun. I wouldn't mind helping you out some day when we're both stronger." She volunteered. She still wasn't sure what she was going to do, but she was sure that she would be much stronger by the time the other girl was able to do dungeon runs. 

"It would certainly be really cool if this game had some sort of hidden lore thats interconnected and told through the items and floors and hidden locations. That would be awesome." She shifted her stance slightly, running a hand through her hair. "I dont really have any cool plans or stories to tell. To be honest i havent really done anything cool in this game yet. I hope that will change soon though."

"Honestly maybe actually fighting isn't a great idea, but we could always just go exploring, Who knows, maybe we'll find something cool." In the back of her mind she hoped that they might somehow find a new location, but honestly the first floor had basically been combed over. They would really have to go delving in order to find a new location. There were plenty of cool things still aorund on the first floor however. The past had shown that many of the quests that had seemed static had actually evolved. Generally these quests were combat based and their evolutions were even stronger versions, so.... She didn't want to find one of those. She glanced over at Sorra. 

"Age before beauty!" She stated with a broad smile and a wink. She opened up her HUD and sent him a party request, considering what they might find. This was more than likely going to end up as a sightseeing adventure or a hike, and she planned to avoid combat as much as possible. "If we see a monster we turn around and go the other way, okay? Unless we're sure we can take it on. I just want to make sure that we have some sort of plan before we end up in that sort of situation." She had been out in these parts once before with a much more experienced fighter and she had felt quite sae. This time of course, her partner was seemingly just as inexperienced as herself and she felt it best to set out some ground rules. It was certainly possible to go against fate, and doing dumb things and dying was certainly one way to go against one's destiny.

Amira raised an eyebrow slightly. She honestly wasn't surprised by Sorra's view of the game as unfair. "I cant say that i think the people who designed this game to be unfair. Honestly the worst part of the game is the player killing function. Other than that its fairly easy to not die. Just like real life you have to be careful. All of your actions carry a weight that they wouldn't in a normal game." She said, gesturing with her hands as she spoke. "I believe in the inherent goodness of humanity, and as such I cant believe that the creator of this games intentions were evil." Her short lived rant done, she paused to consider the rest of what he had said.

"Generally I wouldn't go with a steanger out to fight monsters, but i have a good feeling about you." She smiled at him, brushing her vibrant red hair back behind her ear. "I dont have much gear, but im sure we'll be fine as long as we play it safe." She looked off into the distance thoughtfully before whispering to herself, "Perhaps this is a sign...", under her breath. Maybe fate had gotten tired of her childish antics and decided that it was time for her to move on. She hadn't done anything productive for a good while anyway.

Amira smiled at him. "Thats an odd sort of gift to get from a sister, but i guess she must be one of those badass sorts. I know a few of those myself." She said, unaware that she may be bringing up a tense issue. "I walk here fairly often and i dont usually meet many enemies. I guess that would be because weaker players tend to visit this place from the beginner town. Its probably a game design thing." She adjusted her stance, relaxing her shoulders and putting her weight on one leg more than the other, sheathing her rapier. 

"I come here a lot. Fate has a way of working things  and i believe that destiny will take me where i need to be when i need to be." She paused, aware of the fact that most people thought she was weird when she brought that up. It was probably best to change the subject. "I'm not much of a fighter. I keep meaning to train and get some levels, but i honestly get distracted so easily." She blushed faintly. "I dont think i've ever actually used this rapier for anything other than a pointer."

Amira looked over at Krysta. "You want to be a tailor? Thats pretty cool. I'll have to visit you once your all set up. I have this really cool design for blouse that i'd like someone to make." She turned to Reinka. "And your opening a potion shop? Its pretty cool that you already know what you want to do. I'm sure i'll figure it out when the time comes what profession i'm going to choose. Sadly i dont think i'll be visiting you often. I can't ever seem to find the motivation to train or fight. I always just end up procrastinating."

The other girls were just so friendly that it was easy to have a conversation with them. She didn't feel like she was being judged for what she was saying. Maybe she could become a blacksmith, although singing and drawing we're more of her sort of thing. Being a tailor would certainly be interesting as well. All of the jobs sounded like fun and she wondered if she would ever be able to decide among them, let alone take the quest. "So, do any of you have any plans for the rest of the day? It sounds like one of us has already been on one adventure. Are you up for another one?" She queried, aiming the question at the man who had been talking about jumping off of a horse.

She noticed the man almost immediately as he entered the town. To say that was odd would be an understatement. Amira tended to get this dazed look on her face as she stared into space, and often times she ended up deep in thought, becoming less aware of her surroundings. Still, something about the man had caught her eye. Maybe it was the weird choice of weapon. Honestly two handed swords were a rarity in the game, most pople sticking to spears and one handed weapons. A normal person might just take note of these things and go on about their business, but Amira was sure that there was a reason that he had caught her eye. Fate had its way of working things.

She straightened up from her position against the wall and made her way over to him, picking her way through the sparsely populated outskirts. "I'm Amira. Thats an interesting sword you have there." She unsheathed her sword, waving her rapier around, her lack of skill or knowledge of what exactly she was doing obvious. "Mine's a rapier. Starter weapon and all of that. So what are you doing here in Horunka? Planning a little hunting venture?"

Amira had no idea what exactly it was that attracted people to her. Maybe it was just the thoughtful expression that tended to appear on her face, or the way she often just stared into space as though she were waiting for something to happen. She smilled at the woman who had come up to her. "It's not silly at all. I knew that if I just waited something would happen. Thats just how it tends to work with me somehow." She grinned and reached her hand out to Reinka in greeting. "I'm Amira, resident procrastinator and believer in destiny."

She turned slightly, taking note of the new arrivals. It seemed like today was certainly going to be more interesting than normal. Five people, all introducing each other? It was like something out of an anime. The unlikely heros meeting by chance, their fates tied together by Destiny herself. She giggled. "Amira, nice to meet you all. Of course you can all join in. Not much was really going on, but i have a feeling that will change." She glanced over at Core, a playful smile on her face. "You sound like you've had an exciting day." Her hand dropped to her side, landing on her hip rather than her rapier. She cocked her head to the side, her hair falling in a curtain over her face. That was enough input into the conversation. In her mind she was getting a little bit too excited and sociable and it was time to tone it back a bit.

The town of beginnings was busy as usual. Even thought they had managed to progress beyond the twentieth floor people still kept coming back. Amira herself had never left the floor, and she imagined that there were plenty of others in the same situations with better reasons than her. She tended to make plans that she never progressed with. She wanted to be one of those people that were gossiped about on the frontlines, but she couldn't make herself do the training. She always scheduled it for the next day and then she never followed through. She just kept pushing it off, as though someone was going to eventually make her do somehting productive.

It was easy to get sidetracked. She leaned against the wall next to the exit of the city, wondering where she would head today. She could hang out at one of the taverns inside of the starter city, or she could head out to Tollbana or Harunka. One was just a little town in the woods, more of an outpost for people training in that area, while Tolbana was a much larger city. She was certain she would find something to do. She always did as long as she waited and went with the flow. Life was easy when you knew that everything would work out in the end, and that was something that she was absolutely certain of.

@Sorra

Horunka was a small town to the north west of the town of beginnings. Amira knew that well enough by now. She knew all of the first floor reasonably well, mainly due to the fact that it was the only one she had ever visited. Every day she told herself that she would finally start training the next day, get strong, join the frontlines, be better than everyone else. It never happened though. For her it was always the next day just out of sight. It was almost as though she thought that one dayshe would just wake up with a boat load of SP without having to do anything for it. 

She certainly wasn't lazy, despite her very serious issue involving procrastination. She just had a feeling that life would take her where she was meant to be, and that it would give her the abilities she needed before she needed them. It was this belief that led to her carefree and listless attitude. She was more or less blown by the wind, not really doing muchother than wandering around on the first floor and listening to others conversations. They were interesting conversations for the most part. New from the frontlines was always nice to hear. She could almost icture herself joining up and being what people talked aboutas well. Tommorow. She would work on that tommorow.

For now she had the small hunting town in front of her, and the sun shining brightly above. There certainly werent too many people around and most of the people were there for the quest that was located in one of the houses nearby. Most players seemed to prefer the starting city oor Tolbana to this place. Tolbana was certainly more lively and had many more people. She enjoyed the peace and quiet of the small town compared to the bustle of the cities. She leaned up against one of the buildings on the outskirts and checked her hud. Every day she checked her messages as though she expected one to come and somehow change her life, but there was never anything interesting.

Profile
Username: Amira
Real name: Hekate Celeste
Age:  20
Gender: Female
Height: 5'11"

About: History/personality

Amira grew up in a small poor family. Her father was a carpenter and her mother was a librarian. She did well in school up until she got to highschool when she decided that her interests lay contrary to what her parents wanted. She wanted to write and draw and sing, but her parents wanted her to do something respectable such as becoming a doctor or a lawyer. She procrastinted with her schoolwork and spent her time improving her singing, drawing, and writing. She barely scraped by in school and took a gap year to figure out what she wanted to do in the future. Still, instead of looking at potential careers she tended to instead play games and read books to pass the time.

She had confidence that the future would work itself out and that  someday she would find a job that she could be happy devoting herself to. With her parents rarely at home and her older brother away at school across the country, she had plenty of time to herself. She could go where she wanted and do what she wanted. She didn't abuse her new freedoms and rather tended to just stick to herself in the privacy of the home that she lived in with her parents. Gradually she grew interested in the world of VRMMOs and started to hang out with others with similar interests. More than anything she was interested in the competitive side of VR gaming, wanting to find fulfillment in proving that she was more skilled than others. 

She much preffered more linear fighting games to SAO, judging from what she'd heard online. The game seemed to focus much more on teamwork and socialization than plain competitive fighting. Still, she wasn't the sort of person to express her opinions to her group of friends and ended up getting the game to play with them, hopeful that it would be more than just the PvE sandbox that she supposed it to be.

Virtues:

Chillaxed: Amira tends to be relaxed to the extreme. She exhibits a wide range of emotions, but in general she just goes with the flow. One of her core beliefs is that life will take her where it will, through ups and downs, but in the end it will all work out. This leads her to be extremely lax when it comes to decision making, but also allows her to be very optimistic.

Competitive: Despite being very relaxed, Amira has a competitive streak. Possibly due to her lack of achievements in life (by fault of her relaxed nature), she is intent on beating others in competition. She wishes to gain fullfillment through defeating others, whether it be a battle of wits or a physical battle. However, her motivation is fleeting, and her competitive nature comes in fleeting bursts. Her competitive nature does allow her to break past her normally relaxed nature and to make quick decisions in order to win instead of just letting others do it for her.

Charismatic: Despite her natural introverted tendencies, her relaxed nature and kind heart cause her to be well liked by virtually everyone she meets. She generally desire to remaiin conflict free, a trait that tends to keep her from making enemies and rather having an excess of incompatible friends. Still, rather than choose she would rather keep silent on her opinions in order to keep the peace. She only rarely has an issue that she feels strongly about, at which point she becomes fairly vocal and speaks passionately about it.

Flaws:
Reference: http://darkworldrpg.com/character-flaws/
Indecisive: Amira only rarely makes quick decisions, and those are usually because she has no other choice. She has the ability to make quick decisions with logical reasoning, but she generally chooses not to. She prefers to follow others most of the time and see where life takes her. She likes being around people, but she isn't usually the one who directs the conversation.

Procrastinator: Amira tends to procrastinate about a great many things. Whether this is because of a fear of success or a fear of failure is yet to be seen. Her intentions are good, but often that is all that they are, intentions. She really has to force herself to do something in an acceptable amount of time.

Impulsive: Amira has trouble controlling her mouth sometimes. The words tend to spill out sometimes. She is generally quiet, but often times she doesnt think about what shes going to say before she says it. She often overanalyzes what she says afterwards despite it usually not being anything bad. She has a lot of self doubt about herself and her own views, feeling that she isnt deserving of all of her friends because of her tendency to procrastinate and hide her own view points despite them likely being perfectly acceptable.

Profession: (Leave blank until the Earning a Living quest has been completed.)

Skills
Non-combat:
»

Passive:
»

Combat:
»

Weapon skills:
» Rapier- Novice (5)


Inventory
Weapons/Tools:
»

• Radiant Rapier (+2 DMG)
• Celestial Coat (Vanity Armor)
• (3) Starter Healing Potions (Heals 50 HP)
• 2,500 Col and (10) Tier 1 materials

Roleplays
» [solo/private/open] LinkedTitle
» [solo/private/open] LinkedTitle - in progress
(no "in progress" means its complete; "incomplete" can mean one or the other person stopped replying for a long time)


Relationships (optional)



Story Thus Far (optional)

I'm not saying that it should be open season on new players. And I apologize for my use of language there. My point is that it's a much bigger deal when a dedicated member of the community leaves than a new player. And I think that's it's much more harmful both to the player and the forum.

I think that pking should always require permission. 

I don't think that anyone has ever liked pking. Pking always brings drama with it and arguments and rules changes and discrepancies. I highly doubt that either party involved has any fun with it, unless it was agreed on by both parties and planned out.

I know I'm a bit late to the party here, and I also know that anyone who knows me knows how I feel on this. But being someone who has experienced this I felt as though I ought to express my own opinion on pking. 

To be completely straight with all of you, no one gives a **** if a low level player dies. At least, generally speaking at the point very little effort has been put into the character time-wise. It would be sad and awful and off-putting for the one who died, but really, it isn't too big of a deal.

Now the real issue as I see it is pking for the high level players. High level players have potentially put years of their life into their character (ex. Me) and when that character is pked against their will it is devastating. Imagine putting tons of time and effort into a character only to log on one day out of the blue you find out all of the time and effort you put in is gone and meant nothing.

Things are different now. HP totals are higher, there is very little way to one shot someone, but I don't think that changes the fact that suprise pkings for high level characters shouldn't be allowed. Regardless of how much fewer pkings there will be if permission is required, this is a creative writing forum and a community. When someone of a high level gets pked, that's a member of the community that is more than likely gone. Zelrius, Ssendom, Me, and others who have been pked, where are they now? Not here, that's for damn sure, and they were dedicated involved members before they got their years of character development and leveling ripped away from them because someone else didn't like them OOC or wanted to have a little evil story arc.

This is an issue that I'm passionate about simply because I don't want it happening to anyone else. PKing is destructive to the community, this forum, and the person that it happens to. I don't think that there is even a question here of whether or not permission should be required.

She smiled kindly to him. "I don't quite know actually." She patted her rapier, the crown on the pommel glinting in the light. "I'm an experienced player lacking the experience." She said, her smile broadening at her own little private joke. She toned down her smile, getting back to the conversation at hand. "Mental strength is the most important thing to have here, more than stats. Too many people crack despite stats. Once you lose control of your mind it can be even worse to have high stats." She stated, a piece of wisdom that just came to her tongue, despite not having much experience with high level play, at least not that she knew of. All she knew were that her stats were crazy high. Of course, she would know about mental strength, apparently not having had enough herself. She hadn't been able to deal with her past experiences, choosing to forget instead. "Are you looking for a training partner? Or someone to keep you company?" She asked politely. She'd always enjoyed the company of others.

I'll miss you Oink. You were definitely my favorite staff member even though we got into a few arguments. I really feel as though you jump started the changes to the site that have made this community so great and the site run so well.

Scarlet sighed unhappily, staring at her handiwork. She was sure that she did the right thing, but this would likely haunt her for quite a while. Orange players deserved death or restrainment, they couldnt be allowed to roam around. Who knew when they might snap or just get angry enough to kill someone. She sheathed her rapier quickly and sprinted off out of the cave and into the rain, hoping that somehow Calrex would forgive her. As there wasnt a way to restrain someone in this game, the only way Scarlet could keep everyone in the game safe was through killing the orange players.

[Scarlet leaves the thread]

Scarlet glanced back to Crimsa as she walked away and then back to the other red head. She had an orage cursor. That meant that she was a murderer. She hadnt killed someone in self defense, she had initiated the fight and killed someone. Just because all of the players were in this together didnt mean that they should have liabilities. If she'd done it once, she would do it again. Scarlet scowled, unsheathing her rapier. All of a sudden the scowl dropped. She was sincerely sorry that she had to do this, but it was for the safety of everyone she cared about. She charged at her, stabbing the redhaired maiden fourteen times before hopping back. She would be having nightmares later tonight about this, but she wasnt the indecisive person she had used be. Calming the Soul had changed that in her. She would protect Erin, her love.

ID: 59648

Battle: 8 -3 +4= 9 Hit. Over Radiation: 14x17= 238 -12= 226

Manta: 173/173 EN: 28/42

Teayre: 0/177 (-226)
 

+Limbos Fang

Scarlet blushed a little as Sandra gave her a kiss on the cheek, wondering if there was more behind that. She waved to Sandra as she walked away, towards the teleportation gate. Once she was through, Manta pulled up her menu, sending a PM to someone that she had met recently, a girl by the name of Hakai. She was a nice girl, intelligent too, and her build was one that seemed pretty unique from what Scarlet could tell. She told the woman where to meet her so that they could do the trade. When the girl got there she would just hand her the dagger and the demonic egg that the girl would need to change that dagger into a pair of claws.

-Limbos Fang

-Demonic Egg

Scarlet smiled as Zandra finally gave her an answer about the dagger. Hakai would definitely be glad to hear it. Her whole thing was status debuffs, so this weapon would get her that much closer to joining them on the frontlines. Scarlet opened up the trade menu and included a few extra things from her original offer. "Here, Im going to add some of my Col to the trade, as well as this darkened rapier. You can give it to someone who needs it more than me. After all, your shop gets more business than mine, so you see more people on a day to day basis." She explained, smiling and a accepting the trade.

-38,000 Col

-100 Mats

-Darkened Rapier

Scarlet continued to follow Zandra through the streets, watching as she changed clothes from armor to a very nice black dress. Scarlet would have copied her and done pretty much the same, but she was already wearing a greyish-black dress vest, a whit collared shirt, and a skirt. So she was already pretty dressed up. She listened as Zandra told her what appeared to be her real name, something incredibly obvious but not something that Scarlet had ever considered. It seemed so obvious now though. They finally reached their destination only to find that the place was boarded up with a closed sign. She paused, thinking... "So, what do we do now? Do we take a gamble on one of the other restaurants?" She queried.

Scarlet watched as suddenly people seemed to be clearing out, even her mistress Crimsa. She wasnt entirely sure why, but she was determined to see this dungeon through to the end. She wasnt going to give up and leave, even if her mistress was about to. She looked over at the remaining players. "Lets just get this done with. Im sure we all want this to be over quickly so that we can get the skill points."

Scarlet followed after the black haired woman, pulled along by her hand. "It is hard, but the important thing is to keep yourself from going numb. And if you go after their killer, your reason needs to be that your killing them to prevent more deaths, not for revenge. Revenge really only causes a lot more pain." She explained, walking next to Zandra towards the outskirts of he starting city. 

Scarlet wasnt prepared for the ferocity of the attack from Teayre. She was already injured from the Apes attack, and now Teayre stole her kill and didnt sop there, slashing her katana up Scarlet's body. Zelrisu would have a field day with this. He had warned her about the people who made up the frontliners, and she hadnt listened. Now it seemed as though she was going to join him. Now she could finally see how he really felt about her. He had never said anything when they had been dating, but now she would know for sure. She only wished that she had been able to resolve things with Erin. Still, as her health bar started to drain to zero, she knew that she needed to address this, otherwise chaos would break out and the game might not be cleared for an even longer period of time. She gripped her stomach, forcing herself into a standing position. "This isnt the end for you guys. Even with this setback, I expect you to keep striving to escape this game. There will always be those who want to stop it, but dont let that deter you. I'll be watching with Zel and Dom, dont disappoint us." She forced out, and just before she burst into crystals she got another three words out. "Dont.. b-blame her." She called out as she collapsed face first on the ground, only to burst into crystals moments later. She didnt believe in revenge, she never had. Revenge only cause more pain and suffering, it never healed. Justice was unbiased, unswayed by emotion, while revenge was motivated solely by emotion and selfishness. She was certain that Teayre was a good person at heart. This game just got to everyone, that was all. They were all in this together, even the player killers. These were the last thoughts of Monty Samuels, the alchemist, the duelist, the servant.

May I point out that Teayre attacked people weakened by a mob? Meaning that a safeguard is useless. All the person needs to do is summon some mobs to get rid of it.

Scarlet smiled again. She saved her reply to Zandra for when she exited the gate and approached the other young woman. "You can call me Scarlet if youd like. I changed the name to help me get over Zel's death. Just a little bit of distance goes a long way. You might not have known, but we were actually dating...." She expressed, opening up slightly to the black haired whip user. She looked away a bit embarrassed. Zelrius and her hadn't been very open about that... She felt as though she had loved him, and now that some time had passed she was certain of it. Regardless of how he may have felt about her, she had had strong feelings for him. "Anyway, lead the way."